Iran slams Netanyahu's visit to Oman

By Muhammet Kursun

TEHRAN

Iran on Saturday denounced a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Oman, saying Israel was seeking to sow discord among Islamic countries.

“No doubt that Zionist regime [Israel] is after creating division among Muslim states and masking 70-year of usurpation and massacre of the oppressed Palestinians,” Bahram Qasemi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

Netanyahu paid a surprise visit to Oman on Friday upon an invitation from the ruler of the Gulf state, Sultan Qaboos, according to a statement by Netanyahu’s office.

The Iranian spokesman said U.S. President Donald Trump has been piling pressures on Islamic states to normalize ties with Israel.

“History and experience have it that surrendering to illegitimate demands of the US and Zionist regime will further embolden them to pressure and push their agenda in the region and trample upon rights of the Muslims and Palestinian nation,” Qasemi said.

Netanyahu’s visit to Oman was the second by an Israeli prime minister, the first having been made in 1994 by late Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1995, then Prime Minister Shimon Peres hosted Omani Foreign Minister Yousef bin Alawi in Jerusalem.

Although Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations, the two countries agreed in 1996 to open commercial representation offices.
Muscat, however, suspended relations again following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.